Support—from a distance

Remember the late preterm neonate

In the first of a series of articles exploring neonatal topics relevant to the midwife, I'd like to start with the often overlooked late preterm (LP) neonate As a midwifery lecturer, and occasional...

In a time of uncertainty

At this unprecedented time in the world, I wanted to write a few words of encouragement, support, praise and thanks At the time of writing, I am aware that cirumstances and statistics will have...

What's next after graduation?

‘The world is your oyster, my girl’-these are the wise old words my grandmother said to me when I told her that I'd passed my midwifery degree Reflecting back on that time, I wish I had really...

Making masks for maternity staff

Reports about significant shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) for midwives, nurses, doctors and healthcare support staff working for the NHS and worldwide during the COVID-19 crisis...

Educating women and girls on female genital mutilation

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a global healthcare problem affecting an estimated 200 million women and girls worldwide (World Health Organization, 2020) It is defined as ‘all procedures that...

Midwives in the midst of COVID-19

The world has become connected and united through a global pandemic that has drastically changed the normal way of life The coronavirus, formally known as COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2, is a virus that...

Nappy rash: current evidence for the prevention and management

Nappy rash, also known as diaper rash, nappy dermatitis, diaper dermatitis or irritant diaper dermatitis, is one of the most common skin conditions found in infants and is an acute inflammatory...

Reducing the incidence of stillbirth in black women

A stillbirth is a baby delivered at or after 24 weeks of pregnancy showing no signs of life, irrespective of when the death occurred The UK is noted to have one of the highest stillbirth rates in...

Measuring women's experiences of childbirth using the Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R)

The 10-item Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) is a multi-factorial psychometrically robust tool developed for the purpose of measuring women's experiences of labour and childbirth (Hollins...

Vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy, lactation and infancy: why is it fundamental?

Vitamin D, known as the ‘sunshine vitamin’, is made in the skin in response to ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation, and once activated in the body to the hormone calcitriol (1,25 dihydroxy-vitamin D), it...

Guidance for the provision of antenatal services during the COVID-19 pandemic

On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus, a new strain of coronavirus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-COV-2) causing COVID-19, had...